Kitchen Sink, Vol 2
by aeternium
Summary: Drabbles from the Star Wars universe.
1. Tomorrow's Tomorrows

**Title:** Tomorrow's Tomorrows  
**Characters:** Anakin Skywalker, Ahsoka Tano  
**Pairing:** Implied Anakin/Padmé  
**Timeframe:** AU ten years after ROTS.

She waits and lets him catch up with her after the briefing, and even then it's only for old times' sake. So she tells herself.

"Look, I really didn't want to have to drag you in to all this," he says, and they fall into stride together.

"Who, me or the Jedi?"

"You, of course." He pauses a moment then grins. "The Jedi I was only too happy to drag back to Tatooine. They'll have to do something about the situation now, the evidence is too strong."

She nods and returns a small smile. He's happy – smug, but happy. Freelance work agrees with him. It's impossible not to share in his exuberance, when all he'd hoped for is finally coming to pass. She'd never had a dream, not like that.

"How are the twins?" she asks, because she doesn't want to talk about work right now. She wants to talk about him, but can't. Not yet. The years have to be bridged.

"Old," he laughs. "Too old. Leia got the pass to skip her Superior – it's this secondary education sort of thing, but basically she's starting apprenticeship early. Padmé said she did the same."

"That's wonderful."

"It is," he agrees. A moment passes, then they've arrived at the Masters' apartments and she knows there's someone else he wants to see. "Let's have lunch sometime, before the next meeting. We have a lot to catch up on."

"I'd love that. We'll call it a working lunch, or Obi-Wan will give me hell."

He laughs. "You and me both. See you soon, Snips."

"Later, Skyguy."


	2. That Out a Maid Never Departed More

**Title:** That Out a Maid Never Departed More  
**Characters:** Anakin Skywalker, Padmé Amidala  
**Pairing:** Anakin/Padmé  
**Timeframe:** End of AOTC.

Padmé is examining his hand, the new, shiny, metal one. Anakin had feared that it would repulse her, but he was wrong. It fascinates her, that this appendage of machinery can be just as much a part of him now as the flesh and blood of the other.

"We're married, aren't we?"

She looks up. She does not understand, that much is clear. Anakin weaves his cybernetic fingers through her flesh ones, and looks for the words to explain. That has never been terribly difficult for him.

"Marriage on Tatooine isn't the same," he says. "We don't have ceremonies. Nothing official. We aren't allowed." (and he trusts that she knows what he means by _we_) "But when you survive something together, something like that… you just know."

He hasn't spoken of what happened at the Tusken camp since they left the planet. Padmé doubts he'll ever mention it again after this. But somehow the pieces click into place and she knows he's right. Come what may, everything has changed and they are bound to each other now. Nothing will ever be the same.


	3. Logical Fallacy

**Title:** Logical Fallacy  
**Characters:** Anakin Skywalker, Padmé Amidala  
**Pairing:** Anakin/Padmé  
**Timeframe:** Early ROTS

"Luke."

"Luke."

"Luke?"

"Yes, Ani. Luke."

"You want to name our baby Luke."

"The Naboo guardian of the sky, I thought it was appropriate. And besides, I like it." She raised an eyebrow. "Is there a problem with that?"

Anakin crossed his arms and quirked a grin. "Don't you think she might not like having a boy's name?"

"I'm sure _he'll_ like it just fine."

Throwing off the bedsheets, Anakin pulled himself closer towards her belly and said, "How about it, Leia? Shall we humor your mom or let you be the little lady you deserve to be?"

A tremendous kick greeted him in response.

"I rest my case."


	4. The Trouble With Tribbles

**Title:** The Trouble With Tribbles  
**Characters:** Anakin Skywalker, Ahsoka Tano  
**Pairing:** -  
**Timeframe:** Middle of the Clone Wars

"Well don't blame _me_ – "

"I blame you."

"But how was I supposed to know they'd do that?"

"You shouldn't have brought them onboard in the first place."

"The breeder _gave_ them to me. How do you say no to a free trilling fuzzball?"

"Look around you. This is a _warship_. Tell me, do trilling fuzzballs have any place on a warship?"

"You didn't seem to mind the first one."

"That was one. Now there are thousands swarming the bridge. What do you suggest we do if we encounter a Separatist fleet and can't access the control panels?"

"Lob the things at them…?"

"Snips, just find a way to get them out of here. I think they're multiplying again."


	5. Dreams and Schemes and Circus Crowds

**Title:** Dreams and Schemes and Circus Crowds  
**Characters:** Padmé Amidala, Sola Naberrie  
**Pairing:** -  
**Timeframe:** Several days before ROTS

"And that just leaves a dressing gown. You were deciding between the mint and the cream."

"Oh, both, I suppose. He'll be needing more than one anyway."

Sola snapped the catalogue shut. "Right. That's it."

"What?" asked Padmé.

"Darling, you're already buying this woman a crib, toys, and practically the baby's entire layette. Doesn't she have any other friends giving her gifts?"

Padmé was suddenly very thankful that her sister couldn't see her condition from the angle of the holo.

"Well, yes, but…"

"But?"

She knew what Sola was trying to get at. The Naboo were collectively rather enthusiastic about babies, herself notwithstanding, and she knew her family suspected she was projecting her own wishes for children onto a supposedly pregnant friend. She hated leading them on like this, but it was necessary. For now, at least.

"But none of them have access to Venia's Theed Nursery Décor, Sola. Now how could I deprive her of that?"


	6. Settles Like Dust

**Title:** Settles Like Dust  
**Characters:** Luke Skywalker, Kitster Banai  
**Pairing:** -  
**Timeframe:** 4 ABY

"People still talk about it, you know."

Luke continued to stare at the faded holo headline mounted on the wall, even as the older, darker man came to a stop beside him. Of course they still talked about it. He himself had heard the story several times growing up, though the profundity had been lost on him until that morning.

"Nine years old, and a human to boot," Kitster remarked pleasantly. "On a more civilized system, a full-scale inquiry probably would have followed. But that was the thing about Ani. No one questioned him."

He passed one of the mugs of _tzai_ to him and smiled. Once again, Luke felt a pang at Leia's absence. He should have insisted. This would have been good for her.

"Come outside," said Kitster, already halfway to the door. "There's something I want to show you."


	7. Look After You

**Title:** Look After You  
**Characters:** Barriss Offee, Anakin Skywalker  
**Pairing:** Anakin/Barriss, Anakin/Bithia  
**Timeframe:** 25 BBY

**Note:** This is a sequel of sorts to _Everything We Used to Know_.

* * *

The worst part was when Anakin slapped her right back, she thinks. He wasn't supposed to do that. She was a Jedi, had carried a lightsaber at her side since she was twelve – she could handle a slap.

But he still wasn't supposed to do that.

He was gentle, fierce only in his kata. A sparring partner in both weapons and words, her closest friend in their clan at the temple, the one who knew how to brighten everyone's mood back in the days before they were senior padawans and teaching the classes themselves.

_(Anakin climbs up to the patch of roof next to Barriss and slides a cheap bottle of Whyren's Reserve between her unexpectant hands._

_"Happy life day," he says, and grins at the Coruscant skyline._

_She smiles back, but there's something beneath it, and she begs the Force not to let him know. She's fourteen now and she shouldn't be thinking this because she's a Jedi, but really how do you not when your best friend is suddenly just so tall and then there's that smile?_

_But the Force loves Anakin. It embraces him like its own son – this she's seen, and she knows it whispers to him everything she doesn't want him to know, everything she really sort of does._

_When she kisses him, he's nice enough to kiss her back. He's fourteen, too, after all.)_

The worst part was when Anakin slapped her right back, but she knew it had to end eventually. There was too much sneaking around, too much dodging Ferus' questions, too much wanting and knowing she shouldn't.

They were Jedi. They didn't have the luxury of loving only one person.

_(Not that this is love. She just never thought he'd find someone else.)_


	8. Deeper Powers

**Title:** Deeper Powers  
**Characters:** Anakin Skywalker, Shmi Skywalker, Watto  
**Pairing:** -  
**Timeframe:** 34 BBY

_Opportunities to find deeper powers within ourselves come when life seems most challenging. - Joseph Campbell_

Mom was thirty today.

Anakin was eight (or maybe still seven or nine already, but he never really knew) and felt that this meant something very important, and deserved some sort of recognition. No one else he knew had a life day – Mom only did because Grandma was obsessed with numbers and names and stuff, she said – and thirty seemed impossibly old and wise.

Old Keir who lived next door with Seek always knew when there was a sandstorm coming. Kitster's sister Danya was probably older than thirty, and she was really good at getting money from people without them noticing. Jira was definitely older than thirty and it seemed she knew everything. Being thirty meant something. It meant you had survived. That there was some secret you suddenly understood, you got what it was all about. Probably the only exception was Watto. It was always Watto.

"No. No way."

"Please, Watto! It's only an hour."

"Absolutely not. My client's coming this evening and the racer's going to be fixed up and new by then, eh?"

"But it's just – "

"I said no. You waste time later."

"What if – "

Watto raised an arm across his chest and Anakin cringed, self-preservation for when he met the floor a moment later. It had been stupid anyway, he thought, picking himself up and trudging back outside to the junkyard. Maybe Mom would be too busy and forget by the time he got home, so he could make dinner instead.


	9. That You Were My First Mistake

**Title:** That You Were My First Mistake  
**Characters:** Padmé Amidala, Mystery Guy  
**Pairing:** Padmé/Surprise  
**Timeframe:** 25 BBY

She stopped suddenly and winced when she heard his breath hitch, but she couldn't go on. Something didn't feel right about this, something wasn't – oh, _Force_, she was twenty-one, damn it, how much longer was she going to wait?

He took her hand from his lap, laced his fingers through them.

"Please?"

There was a vulnerability in that that she hadn't seen in him before, and it was that _please_ that made her push that feeling away, that feeling that nono this is a badbadbad idea far into the back of her mind. After all, everyone knew it was only a matter of time. _Political alliances_ said a small voice, but she pushed that away, too. She needed this here and now.

So Padmé kissed Rush once again, ready this time.


	10. All That You Need is in Your Soul

(You might have noticed that all the 'Ten Things' drabbles are gone. I have a few more in the works, and they aren't really drabbles anyway, so they'll be getting their own fic soon enough.)

* * *

**Title:** All That You Need is in Your Soul  
**Characters:** Beru Lars, Owen Lars (Luke and Shmi Skywalker mentioned)  
**Pairing:** Beru/Owen  
**Timeframe:** 19 BBY

"Force, a baby. What kind of place is this for a baby?"

"It did alright for you."

"That's different, I – we don't have the _room_."

"We have plenty of room. And it'll be good to have another set of hands when he's older."

"We're twenty-four, Beru – are we even ready for children?"

"You know we won't have one otherwise."

Owen stopped dead, his face softening at that, and Beru sidled her way into his embrace. They remained silent for a moment, comforted in the solidness of each other's presence.

"You don't have to be afraid, Owen. We'll raise him right. We'll make Shmi proud."


	11. Metamorphosis

**Title:** Metamorphosis  
**Characters:** Satine Kryze  
**Pairing:** Satine/Obi-Wan  
**Timeframe:** 37 BBY

It was the first shower she'd had in a year, maybe more, but it wasn't a relief. No matter how hard she scrubbed, this felt all wrong. She still felt dirty. A year on the run – a _year_ – and at the snap of their fingers, the signal that suddenly all was safe, she was expected to come and rule these people. She, Tina, the girl who slept on heaths and bathed in lake water and dodged sudden blasters in the dead of night and argued with _him_ like a savage because they were always being watched during the day, so how else could she –

The scrub brush broke her skin and she hissed quietly, quickly pressing her finger over the puncture. A tiny pool of metallic red bubbled up. She let it be.

It didn't matter that she wasn't ready. Tina and all she had been had to be scrubbed away. Tina was just a stupid name, petty revenge for Obi, dear. The planet hadn't elected Tina, the half-wild sixteen year old. Satine Kryze was the new Duchess of Mandalore, and though she'd been delayed a year, it was she who needed to step from the shower now.


	12. And It's Your Honor

**Title:** And It's Your Honor  
**Characters:** Leia Organa-Solo, Luke Skywalker  
**Pairing:** -  
**Timeframe:** 12 ABY

She can't. It's not that she's ashamed, she doesn't even hate him. Not as much as she should, anyway. She just _can't._

Luke blinks at her. "What?" he asks.

Leia coughs.

"It's _Organa_."

Smiling faintly, he puts a hand on her shoulder. He thinks he understands, she knows he thinks she's still holding onto the old anger.

"Leia," he says. What is that supposed to be, anyway, when he holds her name out like that? A peace offering? She embraces her twin, then pulls out, still wrapped in his arms, and rubs her thumb along his jaw. She can't take it – he wasn't hers. He was never hers like he was Luke's. And Leia isn't so sure that's a good thing anymore.

"Luke," she says, elongating it, too. She smiles sadly. "I wouldn't want any family but you, but I will never be a Skywalker."

What he says next surprises her: "You are. It's your birthright. Yours and mine. Take it with the others."


	13. Every Love That Could Have Been

**Title:** Every Love That Could Have Been  
**Characters:** Obi-Wan Kenobi  
**Pairing:** Obi-Wan/Satine  
**Timeframe:** 37 BBY

In the days that followed Obi-Wan's return to Coruscant, it seemed to him that Tina was everywhere.

"_Satine_," he muttered under his breath, correcting himself. "_Duchess_ Satine."

She was seventeen and ruling a planet. He was twenty and would soon be a Jedi Knight. It had not been true life, that year on the run. It was a stolen season. He had never understood anyone but himself terribly well, but Obi-Wan had never wanted to understand so much as with her. She was passionate and obnoxious and honestly terrifying.

And she was everywhere now. The waitress, the girl on the bus, the new lady on the holo. She was everywhere and she was nowhere.

He shook his head. They had made their choices.


	14. Oh Your Skin and Bones

**Title:** Oh, Your Skin and Bones  
**Characters/Pairing:** Cliegg/Shmi  
**Timeframe:** 29 BBY

In all the years since, he's kept it close by. A small, roughly carved snippet of japor, riveted and crudely dyed in lines of red. _Neshtar_, she'd called it. The wandering lover.

He runs his thumb over its surface, made smooth out of habit. Boonta's Eve. He had been seventeen. That face, dark and young and full of life. An untold power coursing through her – he'd felt it in their brief touch of hands, when he'd passed his mother's copper armlet on to her, another worthy mystic. He'd felt it in the way she knew what he was hiding from, that he couldn't bear to see his family's past scattered to the Tatooine winds. She'd known him, and they'd only just met.

Thrice more they met, and he'd known her name, and he'd known her story, and he'd known her during those hot nights of _kirnavale_ when she was nineteen.

He knows her now, though her face is not so young, though the armlet does not gleam so brightly, though more than thirty years have passed since that first Boonta's Eve. He places _neshtar_ in front of her, and though they have both lived and loved and grieved apart, she places her hand on his and suddenly he realizes what she had always known.


	15. Got You This Far

**Title:** Got You This Far  
**Characters:** Han, Chewbacca, Leia  
**Timeframe:** 9 ABY

Han Solo left his wife exactly one time.

It was a few years into their marriage and he didn't know how to be a father. He hadn't had the kind of – he'd had Chewie. For as long as was worth remembering, that was how it had been. He couldn't do this. He _shouldn't_ do this, for everyone's sake. Leia was the kind of mother anyone would be lucky to have. He, on the other hand...

So one morning he rose early, packed a bag, and sped off in the Falcon. All morning, Han had the distinct feeling that his tongue was stuck somewhere in his esophagus. He spent the afternoon, evening, and much of the next day in the very good company of his emergency stock of Whyren's Reserve. By late the next afternoon, Chewie had tracked him down to a hangar bay on Pantora.

He had the chance to fix this, Chewie stated plainly. That was what it boiled down to. He had a chance to fix this for his own children, and running away wasn't good enough anymore.

Han's return to Coruscant was accompanied by a feeling of impending doom. Leia slapped him when he stepped through the door, guided firmly by Chewbacca's hand on his shoulder. She slapped him, and she raged, and he yelled, and she slapped him again.

Later, after the truth came spilling out – much later, because Han Solo Did Not Talk About His Feelings – he made her swear this particular day wouldn't make it into the family lore.


	16. If There's Any Other Way

**Title:** If There's Any Other Way  
**Characters:** Anakin Skywalker, Padmé Amidala  
**Pairing:** Anakin/Padmé  
**Timeframe:** 19.5 BBY

The battles have lulled – the Separatists are regrouping. All Jedi but those on special detail have been recalled back to Coruscant. The conflict is far from over. Dooku must be found. Grievous must be found. That is the primary goal now.

But blasters and strategies and ion cannons and orphaned Twi'lek girls are far away right now. The war has no presence in the breezy apartments of Anakin's wife.

_Home_, he'd called it. It was what he had now. Somehow throughout his training years he'd still managed to think of Tatooine as home, because his mother was still there. He would always have to go back. That tie now severed, Padmé is his life. He fights this war for her.

Small arms snake their way around him, and he breathes in the scent of her hair. It smells of shurra fruit, with the slightly stale tang that comes after the night of a passionate reunion.

Anakin pulls her close.

"I'll do anything for you."


	17. Old Teenage Hopes

**Title:** Old Teenage Hopes  
**Characters:** Melee, Seek, Amee  
**Pairing:** Hints at past Melee/Seek  
**Timeframe:** 16 BBY

"And Kit actually saw him? Actually talked to him?" asked Amee.

"Sure," Melee answered. "So did I."

"Holos or it didn't happen," Seek smirked, throwing back a glass of ale. He burped loudly and brandished his empty tankard at Amee. "Fill her up, lass."

Amee raised an eyebrow, thoroughly unimpressed, and left the corner table to see to a brawl that was breaking out at the bar. She pointedly left Seek's tumbler where it was. "Bitch," he laughed. Melee rolled her eyes and checked under the table to make sure Olia hadn't crawled off somewhere. She hadn't.

"I'm surprised you didn't bring Arran," Seek remarked. Melee looked at him quickly, wondering if she'd heard him correctly. She decided she had. "I don't trust Bast with Olia."

"And you do with him?"

"It's different. He doesn't own Arran. He knows his dad can come get him whenever he wants." There was a significant pause. "If he wanted to," she added. Seek didn't respond.


	18. What Is Easy

**Title:** What Is Easy  
**Characters:** Padmé, Leia, Anakin, Luke  
**Pairing:** -  
**Timeframe:** 1 ABY (Mountains!verse timeline)

Except when she closes her eyes she can still hear the blasters and a foreign clicking tongue, and then she sees her husband's mechno-arm and alabaster sculptures chipped by lasers and barren desert wastelands and smells the hospital where Sabé lay recovering for three weeks before she had the strength to resume her place on the throne.

And then she turns from the window, arms crossed, fully intending to say no.

_Absolutely not._

How could she even think of it?

But Leia's already fought and won Anakin over. No matter how fierce their disagreements, the one thing her husband and oldest daughter are consistent on is in presenting to her a united front. Damn them for it.

_Chels Blackshore came back to Coruscant one leg the worse for it two months ago. Inconceivable. _

Naboo pacifism runs thick in Leia's veins, but thicker in Luke's. There is a wildness to her that not even the serenity of the Tal people or the language her children speak can calm. It is a wildness naturally tamed by a genuine desire to do right, free of the confusion that plagued her father all those years ago.

_Bail and Breha have been staunch supporters of the cause since its inception, and it has recently fallen into fashion amongst royalty to subsidize the Galactic Embassy. All this money could do a galaxy of good, but where are the volunteers? No one will step forward to do the dirty work._

Now Leia is willing to follow him into the great battle between dark and light and good and bad and corruption and morality. Who is _she_ to say otherwise?


End file.
